Chapter 3
Snow fell in lazy spirals as a light breeze picked up. Hermione wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck and stared out at her friends. Ron and his brothers were throwing snowballs at each other while Harry spoke with Ginny and Natalie. She frowned when she saw that the Hufflepuff girl had most of Harry’s attention at the moment. They couldn’t see her as she was, hidden below the eaves. If they had, they’d call and she’d be forced to join them. She didn’t want to; not with her around.
Professor Snape’s comment from that morning was still fresh in her mind. He’d said it with a sneering smile.
“Miss DeWinter received a hundred on that quiz. Perhaps you should ask her about the question you didn’t understand.”
A hundred! This makes the fourth perfect score she’s gotten! Hermione bit her bottom lip. She wasn’t used to being second to anyone in Potions class. It was all Natalie’s fault. How could anyone get a perfect score four times in a row on any of Snape’s quizzes? It was near impossible. She’d been trying for years and had succeeded here and there, but never four times in a row. At this point Natalie’s overall grade was better than hers! Scowling, Hermione turned around and marched back inside without a sound.
“Hey Harry!” George called. “Did you just see Hermione?” Fred smashed a large pile of snow over his twin’s head. He yelped, shoving Fred down on top of Ron. The two struggled trying to get up. Finally Fred rolled off and Ron crawled away far enough out of reach in case his older brother fell on him again.
“No.” Harry called back.
“I could’ve sworn I saw her,” he remarked.
“She’s been quiet lately,” Ginny observed. “I overheard a bunch of the other girls mention that she’s been a bit snappish to them.”
“You don’t suppose she’s taking more classes than she can handle again?” Ron asked. “I didn’t think she was.”
“Not that I know of.” Harry replied. Beside him Natalie frowned.
“Neville Longbottom asked me to help him with his Potions homework today. He said he overheard Hermione say I’d gotten a perfect score on the last quiz.” She took a step back and looked around Harry to Ron. “That makes the third person from Gryffindor to ask me for help.”
“You’re helping me, Neville asked you, who’s the third?” Ron picked himself up off the ground, dusted the snow from his slacks and walked over to her.
Harry looked vaguely guilty. “That’d be me.”
“You.” Ron exclaimed, shocked. “I thought Hermione was helping you.”
“She is, but I was having a tough time on the homework the other day, so I asked Natalie to explain the problem. Hermione’s advice just wasn’t helping. I was going around in circles.” The young wizard folded his arms across his chest. “When Natalie explained it, it made more sense.”
“Hermione and I just have different teaching styles,” Natalie quickly interjected. “What works for one person doesn’t always work for another.”
“Yeah, well…” Ron muttered. Harry squatted down and grabbed a handful of snow. In one fluid movement he snagged Ron’s scarf and collar of his robe with one hand and stuffed the snow down his neck with the other. The red head squawked in surprise as Harry released him and ran for Fred and George. Scooping up some snow, Ron threw the malformed ball at his friend. Smiling wickedly as Harry dodged, he took off after him.
Ginny and Natalie shook their heads.
“Boys,” Ginny stated, rolling her eyes. Natalie chuckled.